Every team in the league is in essence playing itself into shape, hence when you draw such a tough schedule players are in a “bag skate” most nights until the conditioning and timing return. Q has played the game long enough to know what the team needs between games and getting into true game shape doesn’t happen overnight. A bag skate would just make things worse – I doubt we’ll see any teams employing such in this condensed sschedule.
The players need to rest and rejuvenate for Tuesday, when it will be SJ who is playing in back to back games…. And they have played as much as Hawks have. If Hawks play their game, like what we saw early in the season, they should dominate by the time the 3rd period comes around. I accentuate should. (It didn’t happen against Wild)